Dr. Cole is an outspoken critic of the Iraq War, and his writings (many of which have appeared on Antiwar.com) are what made him a target, according to Carle. The CIA is banned from spying on Americans, and Carle attempted to report the effort to a superior. Another analyst also confirmed to Carle that he was asked to gather information on Cole for being “really hostile to the administration.”

Dr. Cole has been a Professor of History at the University of Michigan since he obtained his Ph.D from UCLA in 1984. He has run a weblog, Informed Comment, debunking allegations by hawkish officials, since 2002.

Won't be long now before they start rounding off the intellectuals and dissenters and throwing them in loony bins…err…I mean "rehabilitation" facilities just the way the old USSR used to do. I used to wonder who learned from whom: if the Communists from the Capitalists or vice versa, I don't have to wonder anymore. Now I know.

Calling for a congressional investigation of the CIA? Yeah, like that is going to go anywhere. Most every congresscritter who has aspirations of sitting at 1600 (and most of them do) want that kind of power for themselves. And most of them really don't care about established law – it doesn't apply to them anymore. So, I won't hold my breath waiting for this "congressional investigation" to happen.

Prepare a court case…and file a suit against any organization and/or persons involved with the spying
on Juan Cole. To Juan Cole…asking for an investigation means you will have retired and still waiting for the conclusion of the investigation. Prepare…and file suit.

Cole started quoting the ADL on anti-semitism and has defended Obama on Libya. Scratch a liberal you'll find a fascist. The man's gone over to the darkside. Why does he merit all this space on Antiwar? Last time I looked (and wrote a check) this was a right wing site.

Of course, Prof Cole is a democrat, so he's not making the obvious call for the Obama DoJ to investigate. After all,its an obvious crime. Why ask for a congressional investigation? The people who should be investigating is Obama's DoJ.

Nope, they are too busy going after antiwar activists. Defending the constitution against abuse of power from the executive branch is definitely not on the agenda. Looking forward, not backwards, and all that stuff. Unless you are an antiwar activist. Then its lots of looking backwards at past travel and writings to determine if they can prosecute you. That's Obama's DoJ.